FRIENDS told of their heartbreak yesterday over the death of a teenage girl who was killed by a train on a North Wales railway line.

Victoria Swift, 14, of Ffordd Powys, Rhos, died instantly when she was hit by a Holyhead to Cardiff train in Johnstown, near Wrexham on Monday night.

The Grango School pupil was with a group of close friends when the tragedy happened.

Witnesses told how they heard her friends scream in horror as they witnessed the awful incident at about 7pm.

British Transport Police are now waiting to question the group of five, and will also investigate whether they were trespassing on the line.

Yesterday concerns were raised by neighbours, who said youngsters have been playing on the line for months.

And questions were raised about why a path at the scene of the accident was allowed to stay open across the railway track, when there was a foot bridge taking pedestrians safely around 100 yards away.

The track is blocked off behind houses – partly by a 10ft high steel fence and partly by a smaller wire fence – but access is allowed to the line via the footpath.

Victoria’s devastated family, including mum Nita Swift, were too upset to speak about her death yesterday.

As the communities of Rhos and Johnstown came to terms with the tragedy, people who knew Victoria described her as a good-natured and polite girl.

Neighbour Alan Miles said: “She was good friends with my daughter. She was a lovely polite girl who was never in trouble.

“Everybody is really shocked by her death.”

Local butcher David Thomas said: “Vicky was such a lovely girl. She was very polite and well mannered and was never in any trouble.

“I saw her every morning going to school with her pop and crisps. It is such a shame.”

Karen Evans, headteacher of Grango, said: “It is with great sadness that we learnt of the death of one of our pupils, Victoria Swift, and we offer our sincere condolences to her family.

“She was a happy and popular pupil and she will be greatly missed by everyone at the school.

“We will offer any support we can to our pupils and staff as we go through this very sad time.”

Terry Garner, Wrexham council’s strategic director for children and young people, said: “We are very saddened at the news of Victoria’s tragic death and we offer our condolences to her family and friends.

“We have put all our resources including counselling and educational social workers on standby to help staff and pupils during this very difficult period.”

Yesterday dad of three Kelvin James who lives in front of the rail track told how his daughter spotted the driver waving frantically for help.

Police and emergency crews used the 53-year-old engineer’s garden to gain access to the railway line.

He said: “My daughter, who had just got out of the bath upstairs, asked if I had seen the train which had stopped at the back of our house.

“She said the train driver had got out and she thought he was beckoning over to her and then he got back inside.

“I opened the patio door and the driver shouted over to me to guide the ambulance in.”

Mr James flagged the ambulance down at his front door.

Emergency services took out two fence panels at the back of his house to gain access to the line.

Mr James added: “There have been problems with children getting onto the track, they have been playing a lot on the line.

“I have lived here 20 years but there have been no serious accidents until now. It is a terrible tragedy.

“But a neighbour said the day before she had heard a train giving out prolonged blast on its horn.

“And her son was walking by the fence and saw five kids on the line.”

Neighbour Theresa Marubbi said: “It is really dreadful. I saw the fire engines and the ambulance but did not know what had happened. I thought there had been an accident.”

Another neighbour, who did not wish to be named, said: “There is a pathway to get onto the track which I think is dangerous.

“I don’t know why they keep it open when there is a bridge just up the way which people can walk over.

“There have been problems with kids on the line. I feel so sorry for the family. It is terrible.”

Yesterday Johnstown councillor David Bithell said he wanted to launch another education drive to warn youngsters of the dangers of playing on railway tracks.

He said: “I extend my deepest condolences to the family for what is a difficult time for the whole community.

“The people in the community have taken this very hard - it has come as a real shock.

“We have done a lot of work with British Transport Police and Network Rail and local schools in educational visits to get across the message that railways are a dangerous place.

“It is a tragic accident and now we will have to make more educational visits with BTP to again warn about the dangers of being on railway tracks.”

BTP investigations into the tragedy continued yesterday.

The driver is believed to have made frantic efforts to brake before the collision.

The direct north to south Wales train was more than two hours into its 4.35pm journey from Holyhead, and only a few minutes outside Wrexham Central station, when the collision occurred just down the track from Johnstown station.

Chief Inspector Paul Richards of British Transport Police, said: “This was a tragic incident and our thoughts are with the family of the girl who is from near Wrexham.

“Enquiries are ongoing and we are still trying to establish the full facts, but we believe she was with other people before the incident occurred.

“The circumstances regarding the incident are being investigated but are not being treated as suspicious. We are encouraging anybody with any information to contact our officers.”